Epic mobs and components

[Calyndrell]

They'd drop tokens (1 rare or a number of common). Pricing of the various formulas would be very expensive, but the components (used to make the items) would be much cheaper so that you might be able to buy one after a single fight/quest.

Regarding the quests, my current thought is to have four (2 Adventure, 2 Trade). Adventure are relatively easy, kill some hard stuff (tbd). Trade are a bit more challenging, but maybe gather something rare from hard to get T6 resources (we can provide bonus items from gathering only when you are on a particular quest).

Not sure about the Zealot, Rancor and other items. They aren't Epic as they are low level items.

Lol we could always reclassify the greater anchor... it is no longer bugged... make it epic and suddenly "Works as intended" see even saved you some work DD

[Guaran]

From a small chat in the Order Marketplace today -

There was the idea of having the myloc queen's hair usable for a tech - perhaps used in the making of another Mental Bane tech (useful for those who messed up with it before).

And then came up with the rest of these off the top of my head -

Myloc Queen - Myloc Queen Hair - requires x2 of the hairs and maybe some radiant essence orbs to make a mental bane tech (could be weaker than the one received from the quest)

Valkor - Shard of Bone - requires x2 of the shards and some radiant essence orbs to make a tech kit that, when applied, gives a chance to do a decent amount of pierce of spirit damage that heals the damage dealer for a portion of the damage done.

Reklar - Chipped Claw - requires x2 of the chipped claws and some radiant essence orbs to make a kit that, when applied, has a chance to apply a plague breath type debuff - though it would be a very, very weak version of Reklar's own. Also has a small chance to dispel.

Son of Gigaroth - Massive Kwellen Hide - requires x2 of the hide to make a tech kit that, when applied (only to armor?), has a chance to debuff an attacker with blighted thorns/brambles.

And so on for Fafnir, the AoP, and any other mobs I may have forgotten.

This started off as a wish to have a way for people to get another Mental Bane tech if they messed up on the first one without just giving a free tech (I know three people who have done so) - aaaaand I decided to extend it to include the rest of the epics that people hunt. The tech forms could drop form t5/6 named mobs or from a weaker equivalent mob of the boss - for example, the tech form to use the myloc queen's hair would drop of mylocs, the form to use SoG's hide would drop off blighted/berserk kwellens, etc.

Thoughts?

I like these ideas..

The replacement mental bane tech should be the same, not weaker IMHO. It's not like it is overpowered to begin with. It also needs fixed so that it is delay adjusted.

(FYI all the weapon crystals added 5 some odd years ago also should have been delay adjusted, but are not. the % chance to go off should be double when in a 50 delay weapon vs a 25 delay weapon. This way the dmg added over time is the same for both monks (using something thats 25 delay) or warriors (using a 50 delay sword, etc)).

The Large Intact Hide no longer drops from Son of Gigaroth, unless you happen to be on that quest to obtain the large hide. So that would need to be added back.

This is a good idea and in some ways is similar to one we've had for a while now with regards to Epic mobs. To run with this here would be my take on how it might work.

1) Epic mobs would no longer drop their specific weapon/armor parts. Instead, they would drop a number of Common or Rare Epic Tokens.
2) These tokens would be tradeable to a pair of NPCs. One of the NPCs would trade them for Components (of various types). The other NPC would trade them for Formulas.
3) The Formulas would be for the Epic armor and weapons, tech kits (such as Mental Bane, Vital Defiance, Dismissal, etc).
4) Creating the items in the formulas would use resources as well as the traded Components
5) Epic mobs that would drop these would include Valkor, Son of Gigaroth, Reklar, Shaloth, Fafnir, Daknor and Gruk. Did I miss any?
6) In addition to Epic Bosses, there would be a third NPC who would offer "Daily" quests that would allow players (both adventure and trade) to acquire tokens.

Thoughts? Comments?

What would the components be? The pieces of the various weapons? Tech comps? Being able to trade tokens for specific needed pieces will make it a lot easier to complete items. Perhaps give the regular epic bosses which drop specific bits (valkor, reklar) a chance to drop the random pieces they drop now, -Or- a token tradeable for any bit that same boss drops. So separate tokens for Valkor and Reklar. So one hunt we get a Bloothorn Bow 4 of 5, another hunt we get Valkors Token. Sog, Daknor, Gruk should have less chance to drop those tokens, or all that will result of this idea is those mobs being farmed/camped, and the regular epics ignored.

The daily quests sounds like easy-mode. It's like hey, here's a shortcut around having to bother with killing the epic mobs... Which defeats the purpose of having the epic mobs, and whats the point of epic gear if there are not epic hunts... I'd be very careful here... I am especially against allowing crafter type quests for epic gear, without an epic hunt involved. And those players are not likely to care either way, or they would level up adventure and participate. The only exception I can justify is for formulas, something that is crafted. But not for the components/ingredients the formula requires.

Are the tech kits drag-to-apply?

[AmonGwareth]

The Large Intact Hide no longer drops from Son of Gigaroth, unless you happen to be on that quest to obtain the large hide. So that would need to be added back.

No plans to do this.

What would the components be? The pieces of the various weapons? Tech comps? Being able to trade tokens for specific needed pieces will make it a lot easier to complete items. Perhaps give the regular epic bosses which drop specific bits (valkor, reklar) a chance to drop the random pieces they drop now, -Or- a token tradeable for any bit that same boss drops. So separate tokens for Valkor and Reklar. So one hunt we get a Bloothorn Bow 4 of 5, another hunt we get Valkors Token. Sog, Daknor, Gruk should have less chance to drop those tokens, or all that will result of this idea is those mobs being farmed/camped, and the regular epics ignored.

If this is implemented then the Epic bosses will no longer drop the items or components they do currently. This would replace that, so for example Valkor would no longer drop his formulas or weapon components. Instead, you'd use tokens that the Epic bosses would drop to purchase components from a vendor that would then be used to make the items from formulas also purchased from another vendor for tokens.

The daily quests sounds like easy-mode. It's like hey, here's a shortcut around having to bother with killing the epic mobs... Which defeats the purpose of having the epic mobs, and whats the point of epic gear if there are not epic hunts... I'd be very careful here... I am especially against allowing crafter type quests for epic gear, without an epic hunt involved. And those players are not likely to care either way, or they would level up adventure and participate. The only exception I can justify is for formulas, something that is crafted. But not for the components/ingredients the formula requires.

Some on this board would consider the epic bosses easy mode. So I think to each his or her own when it comes to the difficulty of the game.

[LOVWYRM]

I prefer the idea of the op.

Its different from what we are dicussing here.
Alisto`s suggestions fit more into what we want and need now.
My opinion.
And pls allow me to repeat myself- do not make it to easy- a Sale of everything.
Istarias population has more ubers than average players.

[Alisto]

The daily quests sounds like easy-mode.

In most games I've seen, they are. However, that doesn't mean they /have/ to be or are going to be easy all the time.

I would could get behind a quest that, while it was labeled as 'daily', required more than one person (maximum two, or an extreme amount of luck with one person - like the quest chain that gets you Hero's resolve, except a little less time taken) to complete and takes a decent amount of time. In short - a quest that took a fraction of the effort/grouping needed to kill an epic mob, but also gave an equal fraction of a reward. If for example - on a scale of 1->10, getting a group for Valkor was a difficulty of 3 and the reward was a 3, the daily quest would be a difficulty of 1 and give a reward of 1 upon completion. In three days, one would have the equivalent (from the daily quest) of one normal Valkor kill. For those who might be able to attend a Valkor group hunt perhaps once a month, the daily quest would be a nice thing. Or, since the difficulty of a mob is varied between people, it could be a daily that took a fraction of the time for a fraction of the normal reward (though epic mobs don't take all that long)

A daily quest /should/ be a way for those who don't have people to toss at an epic mob or the time needed to find said people, but it wouldn't seem...fair?...to have a quest completed once equal to getting together a group of people and downing an epic mob once if the quest is easier than killing the mob.

Of course, this is under the assumption that, as something that is supposed to be done 'daily', the daily quest would not be all that time consuming nor difficult in the first place because it is 'daily'. The quest could be (using the example earlier >.>) at a difficulty level of 3 and so give a reward of 3, but then that would defeat the purpose of having the epic mob in the first place.

The Large Intact Hide no longer drops from Son of Gigaroth, unless you happen to be on that quest to obtain the large hide. So that would need to be added back.

The Large Intact Hide is a quest item. I don't see any reason why it should be required as a component other than it would kill two birds with one stone - and since it only drops when on a specific quest, it could make things overly complicated. I was suggesting that a completely different item be added to SoG's loot table, similar to the Myloc Queen's Hair. The hair and the massive hide thing from SoG would be used as components, while the large intact hide would remain a quest item.

[Calyndrell]

Ok as an idea we want to include crafters in this idea.. well crafters are already included as they are needed to build the actual items... how about a slight expansion of this idea.

ALL epic items gain a formula.. this includes soggy's.. and the only way to gain the formula is through a crafting quest... this way there's potentially more interaction between the two styles of play.... unless of course the chars are Jack of all trades but I can't figure out a way to avoid that.

[Alisto]

An idea!

I was thinking that with a daily quest in the game that gave tokens with which I could buy epic pieces, I could pretty much get an epic item...without ever killing or perhaps even seeing an epic mob at all, depending on what the daily quest asked of a player. I would say it would be horrible if that were to be so.

If a daily was ever implemented, perhaps there could be one for each epic boss (and you can only do one per day - if you choose to get a token that can buy Valkor pieces, all the other quests close up until the next day, and then one can take any quest again), and the daily quest would give a little bit of lore info about that boss while doing 'little things' (read: anything up to but not including killing the epic mob itself).

For example: the daily quest that gave a token used to acquire Reklar items, the daily quest could give some lore on him (specifically the Primal Boon spell, history, etc)
1) Collect 'x' number of ethereal shards
lore!
2) Kill 'x' number of those tiny dragons that drop ethereal shards, because you didn't kill enough of them the first time and they need to die! Can't be pulling them during the epic battle.
lore!
3) Kill that small add that follows Reklar himself around exactly ONCE (I don't exactly know the difficulty on this...but I do know that Reklar attacks as well, so one would need to survive both for a couple seconds before the little add died and the player could fly away)
Quest is done, player gets token.

For Valkor, the ethereal shards could be replaced with the components needed to craft the life ward tech/resistance onto items, and the little plague dragons with a requirement to kill Valkor's guards, and finally kill the Dark Stalker.

SoG would be kill kwellens, collect kwellen wings (because collecting plain hides are boring! Who knows, we might learn that SoG can fly with those things o.o)

Shaloth would of course be myloc and collecting myloc brains or some such thing



These are just off the top of my head, and I know that 1) I don't think you can pull a little skeleton without pulling Valkor, so that would need to be changed. 2) Some crafting things should be included in the quests so it's not all 'killkillkillsmish!', like getting a form that allows ethereal shards to be crafted from 'x' and 'y' items 3) a whole host of other stuff, but I hope I made the idea that the daily quests should in some way require the player to do things that would help against the epic mob were the player ever to fight it (and lore would be nice >.>) as well as limiting people to getting one epic-specific token per day instead of a one-token-fits-all per day.

[Arzel Rashemi]

I think I like your original idea better alisto. It is not as confusing or complicated.

As for the rest of the idea. I always thought a daily was that exactly, once a day? I can't see how it would be more than that. I don't expect the daily to be easy at all, just perhaps geared more towards those with a preference for crafting than hunting, or for those who can't get a group for a variety of reasons. Everyone is busy, no one is on, they might live in australia. Even on order population being what it is, unless you are on at the right day and right time, finding or forming a group can be a real challenge.

[Guaran]

The only Idea I can think of for a daily quest, is to have a "quest" which the whole group can go pick up, and this quest is to kill Sog, Valkor, Reklar, Daknor, Gruk, Fafnir. The target is -all- of those mobs must be killed once. The quest reward is 2 tokens for each group member.

The regular epic mobs sog, Valkor, Reklar, each drop only 1 token per kill, so we have to do /random for that. The mini-epic mobs gruk, fafnir, daknor each have their own varying chance to drop or not drop an epic token. I would say it should be 25% chance.

But I lost all 6 randoms! Oh wait, we just finished the quest, I get two tokens. Not bad for a days work. Or however many is deemed appropriate. Maybe even just make it a single token. Maybe 3 tokens for Saturday's version of the daily.

This way, the epics are hunted, not sidestepped.

Gruk and Fafnir get more beat-downs. Since the quest that gives the Scale was changed, there's zero reason to kill Fafnir. He used to be the only way to get a specific one of the hides needed for the Ceremonial Scale quest. Gruk was the third boss in this quest chain, but was never used for anything. He's a different fight with different tactics, and the ceremonial scale is best for hunting him (It seemed this was the direction the quest chain was going, but it got dropped and hasn't been developed any further in what 8 years or so).

Given the amounts of tokens potentially gathered this way over say a week, the exchange rate of these tokens for the bits might need to be 10 tokens to 1 piece or formula. They could have differing prices too, the formulas could cost even more (say 25), or less (maybe just 5).

Not sure how Sog's weapons would factor into all this, would they become craftable?

One more thing that I have pointed out in the past. Reklar's weapons are pretty crappy. There are curses on the cudgel, tail scale. Tail scale only has same armor amount as a t5 scale, change it to +90. Chakram is an incredibly weak heal (50% of damage done on 5% of hits, or 2.5% of the damage done) compared to Demongii (25%), or even to the BloodSword. The Bloodbow has to long of a delay. Players play in a bow class to use lightning arrows and stun their targets, longer delay = less stuns, and it only has marginally more damage. No one uses this bow, at all. The BloodThorn staff was finally fixed just recently, jury still out on the % chance of the effect. (Thanks for fixing it). Bloodtalon damage is less than crafted claws. Demonclaw effect is too short as well as having less damage than crafted claws. Giving both of those a tech slot or 2 would help immensely. Generally, SoG's weapons have been the easiest to obtain, and were the best to use. Demonstaff is pretty decent. Demonflurry is considered the best bow in game. Demongii is highly sought after sword. The demon maul isn't bad either (just no one seems to play in those schools). The Demon Axe was really nice when the dot effect was an area effect. Perhaps fix that and make it aoe again like it was originally. (It got changed because the aoe was landing on mobs and players alike. There has to be a way to correctly fix that). Demon Spike isn't bad, but could use a boost. If this item was nicer, it might encourage players to play in Spearman. Reklar's sash is the only item of his that anyone uses. And as of the fix to the bloodthorn staff, it is really the only item of Valkor's getting real attention. Bloodsword isn't bad, but maybe add +2handslash skill.

Definitely improve Reklar's items, and if you want, increase the cost of the bits to say 15 or 20 tokens per piece. We would gladly pay extra for something we will actually use, rather than just collect. The cudgel and chakram are 6 pieces plus a formula, so potentially 7 parts. Charge 15 tokens per piece, or 90 total for one item minus its' formula. The scale, shield, sash are 4 pieces plus a form, so charge 25 tokens per piece for those.

But don't forget to improve them. Give the Tailscale a chance to proc effects similiar to Reklar's Plague Breath or his other specials like Terrifying Roar (wisp the target for a few seconds). Something fun. Then people will "want" this scale. Right now it's trash.

[Alisto]

Bloodtalon damage is less than crafted claws

The demon claw and talon could use some help, true, but the talon only hits as hard as a crafted claw if you happen to have it hit near the minimum damage it possibly can.

Bloodtalon - 75-101
Crafted claw with sharper - 56-77, not accounting for the possible +50 tc or 65 strength from a battleforged/and some sockets.
Demon claw - 50-75, and with the armor shreds effect, 100 tc and 120 str, it's about even with a crafted.

like Terrifying Roar (wisp the target for a few seconds).

I would really, really like this if the possibility for this to happen was added to the tail scale.

I think I like your original idea better alisto. It is not as confusing or complicated.

I should stop posting when it gets late at night >.> My post was just a suggestion that the daily quests should somehow involve the epic mobs - though not require the player to actually kill the epic mob. A daily quest that gives a token to get a Valkor piece should not, in my mind, require you to kill 10 gruoks and craft 10 bronze bars (for example) because it has nothing to do with the epic mob itself. It was also a suggestion to add some of the lore behind the epic mobs into the daily quests.

[LOVWYRM]

thy Guaran (once again) I confirm what you`ve said and sign your post (s) .

[Guaran]

The demon claw and talon could use some help, true, but the talon only hits as hard as a crafted claw if you happen to have it hit near the minimum damage it possibly can.

Bloodtalon - 75-101
Crafted claw with sharper - 56-77, not accounting for the possible +50 tc or 65 strength from a battleforged/and some sockets.
Demon claw - 50-75, and with the armor shreds effect, 100 tc and 120 str, it's about even with a crafted.

The epic claws still need buffed for sure. Don't let the "bigger" damage listed such as 75-101 fool you. That number is only a part of the damage calculation. The claw techs on a crafted claw are superior to the "epic" claws once you add in fangs of fury crystal. (Side note: I've suggested in the past that the effects on the arop crystals be made into passive permanent abilities.. this would give the epic claws a fighting chance. And dev's have went and made the Rune of Teleportation into an Ability now "Focus of Spirit", there's no reason the arop crystal effects cannot become built in as well. Give ALL Ancients regardless of faction, both the Fangs of Fury and The Primal Rage as passive abilities. This alone might tip the scales for the epic claws.)

***

As far as the effects for the Tailscale... the Tailscale could give any breath attack a 1% chance to land "Plague Breath" effect which is a dot, plus chance to remove up to 2 beneficial buffs. And it could give Staggering Howl a 5% chance to land terrifying roar effect (I think that is the wisp effect). It would not be overpowered because Staggering Howl has a 1 minute recycle. The effect would have a 5% chance of landing, each time Staggering howl is used. The net result would be that particular effect would actually only land once every 20 minutes of continuous fighting on average.

I also still believe that the Tailscale should also have strength and tooth&claw stats added. There is no truly effective caster set up for Dragons, for one there are not enough spells. Your 4 aoes take 14 seconds to cast in all, 30 second recycles. So for 16 seconds you have to use melee or bolt (which is really slow casting). The point is having a piece of gear meant for a caster dragon sounds nice, but doesn't really help much. I know of No one who uses the tail scale. Keeping the primal and power (in case any casters really do use it), adding str and t&c, then players (Or at least a lot more) may want to use it. And give it a chance to land effect when certain attacks are used. Cool!

[Alisto]

One more thing that I have pointed out in the past

Can we keep the thread on topic? It started out as a suggestion thread for the daily quest and how it would fit in with epic mobs, and is moving towards another 'please change the epic items'. I'd happily keep this going in a private message though, or in-game. I admit, my replies didn't help at all with keeping it on topic, but I wanted to point some things out. Anyway!

This way, the epics are hunted, not sidestepped.

The only hunts I ever see on Order are the ones I or people I hunt with regularly make. I wouldn't mind a quest that rewards the killing of epic mobs and keeps /random in line so people don't go weeks without winning a thing, but a quest like you suggest that would only add rewards to the killing of epic mobs, which is barely done at all in the first place. A quest like that seems pointless to me.

I am hoping that, if the daily quest is ever put in, would still allow people to get an epic weapon if they keep at it long enough - but at a cost. Killing the epic mob would be an extremely quick way to get a piece - big effort (usually), quick reward of an epic item piece - while the daily quest would eventually allow people to get epic pieces/items, but take a lot longer.

Actually killing the epic mob - very quick way to get pieces. Doesn't take long, can be done every couple hours as well. If one kept at it, they could build an epic item maybe once a week, depending on their luck.

The daily quest - a very, very slow way to get pieces. While one would eventually get an item completed if they kept at it, they would get it at a speed no where near that of someone actually hunting the mobs. If someone who hunts the epic mobs makes one item in a week, someone doing the daily quests would get a piece every week or so.

I admit, I pulled those numbers out of nowhere, but I hope I got my point across.

Summary: Adding rewards to killing epic mobs won't help, as people who hunt them will continue to do so and those who don't will continue to not hunt the mobs.

[Guaran]

... I wouldn't mind a quest that rewards the killing of epic mobs and keeps /random in line so people don't go weeks without winning a thing, but a quest like you suggest that would only add rewards to the killing of epic mobs, which is barely done at all in the first place. A quest like that seems pointless to me.

I do not believe I will ever agree with a "freebie" way of obtaining gear from the epic hunts. You want the gear, you make the hunt.

Summary: Adding rewards to killing epic mobs won't help, as people who hunt them will continue to do so and those who don't will continue to not hunt the mobs.

That's why any discussion regarding changing the epic hunts and how the gear is obtained must also address the desirability of the gear itself. Currently most of it is lacking. See above.

You have gear people really want, more will make the hunts.

[Azath]

That's why any discussion regarding changing the epic hunts and how the gear is obtained must also address the desirability of the gear itself. Currently most of it is lacking. See above.

*cough* that's for a different thread*cough*

As for the dailies, i don't think killing the epic mob should be included. It's tough to get a group together (on order, at least) every day. The dailies would just become useless that way, the whole point of them defeated.
Instead, maybe make a certain token/thing needed (in the formula for assembling the item), not on a daily reward, guarenteed to drop from the epic mob (maybe a stack of 10 would drop?? only useable in the forumla too) - This means even on dailies, you still need to have fought the epic itself at least once to get an epic item.
For the daily quests, they've gotta be something hard. As was said, they'd essentially be freebies otherwise. This would mean, just like what an epic hunt should be, it's gotta be tough enough that earning a few dp meanwhile is a good thing. As alice has suggsted - it also fits in to have it pending around trying to weaken the epic.
- Dark Stalker and a few of Valky's Gaurds for Valkor Tokens
- Soggie's Guards (and kwellen hides of all kinds) for Soggie Tokens
- Reklar's Little Helper (and some ethereal shards) for Reklar Tokens
- Shaloth's Heirophant for Shaloth Tokens
You get the general idea - kill the helpers to whichever mobs.

3) a whole host of other stuff, but I hope I made the idea that the daily quests should in some way require the player to do things that would help against the epic mob were the player ever to fight it (and lore would be nice >.>) as well as limiting people to getting one epic-specific token per day instead of a one-token-fits-all per day.

[LOVWYRM]

It's tough to get a group together (on order, at least) every day. The dailies would just become useless that way, the whole point of them defeated.

I can`t agree with that.
You always get a group together easily-on Order- if players WANT to go for a hunt.
And they do WANT- if the drop is worth the effort.

[Arzel Rashemi]

I can`t agree with that.
You always get a group together easily-on Order- if players WANT to go for a hunt.
And they do WANT- if the drop is worth the effort.

Maybe you do and can, but not everyone has a solid group of people they can call upon at the drop of a hat for daily hunts. I have to agree with Azath on that point. Players shouldn't be punished for a lack of server population during the time of day they can get on to play at, or the time zone they live in.

Can we keep the thread on topic? It started out as a suggestion thread for the daily quest and how it would fit in with epic mobs, and is moving towards another 'please change the epic items'. I'd happily keep this going in a private message though, or in-game. I admit, my replies didn't help at all with keeping it on topic, but I wanted to point some things out. Anyway!

Agreed. The whole topic of changing the epic items themselves belongs on its own thread. The OP and the devs suggested an idea on a different way to get epic items, and were looking for feedback on that.

[Dracillion]

As people have mentioned previously, problem with the existing group required scenarios is that there are no groups in general. Sure you have a select few that you would party with, but if they quit, you're out of luck as well. The population is dwindling and they need to adjust things to accommodate this or the content may as well be removed outright to "conserve" precious resources as we've always been told.

Time to downscale and realize the games state for what it is, not what it was or what could have been. The few that stick around religiously may have already experienced some of this content, but there are plenty of others whom have not. It's robbing the experience for those that haven't, whether they didn't want to or couldn't when the population and opportunities arose or whether they just started later when the player base was already small. Either way, you've good encounters that go to waste due to lack of interest or capability.

ISO revamp.

[Kyala]

This is a good idea and in some ways is similar to one we've had for a while now with regards to Epic mobs. To run with this here would be my take on how it might work.

1) Epic mobs would no longer drop their specific weapon/armor parts. Instead, they would drop a number of Common or Rare Epic Tokens.
2) These tokens would be tradeable to a pair of NPCs. One of the NPCs would trade them for Components (of various types). The other NPC would trade them for Formulas.
3) The Formulas would be for the Epic armor and weapons, tech kits (such as Mental Bane, Vital Defiance, Dismissal, etc).
4) Creating the items in the formulas would use resources as well as the traded Components
5) Epic mobs that would drop these would include Valkor, Son of Gigaroth, Reklar, Shaloth, Fafnir, Daknor and Gruk. Did I miss any?
6) In addition to Epic Bosses, there would be a third NPC who would offer "Daily" quests that would allow players (both adventure and trade) to acquire tokens.

Thoughts? Comments?

I love that idea myself. Often when on an epic hunt, there is that chance that nothing will drop, or a piece for something that nobody there needed, or for some that have three weapons..the wrong one entirely. If you get my point. To be able to select the piece you need (As there are some who have waited even a year for one piece throughout their game time) would be a delightful ability to have access to!. With tokens as the payment to what I assume are very expensive pieces, I will be happy knowing that at least every hunt I go on will be one step closer to earning what I waited so long to get.

- Slight chance I am probably off topic but don't pester me! It's very early in the morning! :P

[Machaeon]

As people have mentioned previously, problem with the existing group required scenarios is that there are no groups in general. Sure you have a select few that you would party with, but if they quit, you're out of luck as well. The population is dwindling and they need to adjust things to accommodate this or the content may as well be removed outright to "conserve" precious resources as we've always been told.

Time to downscale and realize the games state for what it is, not what it was or what could have been. The few that stick around religiously may have already experienced some of this content, but there are plenty of others whom have not. It's robbing the experience for those that haven't, whether they didn't want to or couldn't when the population and opportunities arose or whether they just started later when the player base was already small. Either way, you've good encounters that go to waste due to lack of interest or capability.

ISO revamp.

^Agreed. In the short amount of time I've been playing I've only ever seen a handful of epic hunts announced in the most frequented chats. And without fail every time there IS one that hunt takes EVERY player online who has at least one adventure school to 100 essentially out of the available player base until that epic is dead. There's not usually a lot of vets on at any given time (on Order at least) so when someone wants or needs to hunt an epic they have to wait for enough high-level players to get online. When a lot of the vets are in the same time zones that works great for their hunts but once they leave for the night then the player base is rather empty of high-level players again. (Around midnight EST it starts thinning out typically from what I've seen)

Making the epic mobs easier is unacceptable but keep in mind the player base is not what it could be *cough* should be *cough* for epic hunts to be a common thing.

Amon I love the idea of tokens instead of random formula and part drops definitely should implement that! If you have an all-dragon group going after the bloodtalon and a biped form drops then the whole hunt was basically a waste, and vice-versa with all-biped groups if a dragon form drops. (again since the player base is not what it should be the player to player economy is not that great) The tokens would remove or at least reduce this problem.